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Jun 18 Hamburg

For me, no visit to Germany is complete without a visit to Hamburg. Whilst I was not born in Hamburg, it is my favorite city in Germany and one of the few places that I make absolutely sure I stop by whenever I fly back home to Germany. When asked by friends or strangers which places to visit in Germany, Hamburg is at the top of my list of recommendations.

Hamburg, or Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg as it is officially named, is a port city that is located in the northern part of Germany, close to the North Sea and by the River Elbe. The city has a vast network of canals, an old historic warehouse district (Speicherstadt) that has been designated as a world heritage site, and an enormous industrial port along with a beautiful harbor promenade. Hamburg is also known for its Reeperbahn district, Europe's largest red-light district, but also the home to many great bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants and galleries. It's the place where the Beatles played for an extended time in Germany in the 60's.

I had previously posted photos made during my visit to Berlin last December, and in this post I am sharing a few photos I made during my four-day visit to Hamburg around New Year's Eve. I took full advantage of my visit and explored the streets of Hamburg with my camera every day. I even got up early on New Year's Day and explored the empty (hung-over) streets of this beautiful city. My mom was my brave travel companion and co-explorer. The temperature in Berlin was mild, almost spring-like, but in Hamburg it was frigid. It was so frigid that we had to stop at one of the souvenir shops and buy a fashionable "Schietwetter" (translated "shit weather") hat for my mom, which she proudly shows off in one of the photos below. However, the frigid temperatures during the day or night were no hurdle and I even ventured out in the middle of the night to capture the beautifully illuminated warehouse district.

All black and white photos were made with the Leica MP and Zeiss Sonnar 1,5/50, or Leica M-A and Summicron 2/35, on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. All color photos were made with the Hasselblad 500c and Zeiss Planar 2,8/80 on Fuji Pro 400H. All photos were processed and scanned by MeinFilmLab in Germany. One of my photos was also featured on the MeinFilmLab selected works in January.